About
Teen Health Research is mission-driven. We want to modernize sex education by offering online, inclusive, evidence-based programs to improve adolescent sexual and relationship health.
Dr. Laura Widman
Founder & CEO
Dr. Laura Widman (she/her) is a licensed clinical psychologist and a Professor of Psychology at North Carolina State University. She has nearly 20 years of experience as an adolescent sexuality researcher, sex educator, and digital health intervention developer. Her goal is to help adolescents and families communicate more openly about sexuality to foster happier, healthier relationships and reduce sexual risks like unplanned pregnancy, HIV, and other STDs. Dr. Widman has published over 90 peer-reviewed articles and her work has appeared in outlets such as The New York Times, Today, Huffington Post, and TIME Magazine. She is also an author on the best-selling undergraduate textbook in human sexuality, Our Sexuality.
Meet the Team
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Sabrina Percher
COO, Business Lead
Sabrina Percher is the Chief Operating Officer at Teen Health Research. She has over 15 years of experience in business development and sales. She also has extensive experience as co-founder and COO of an auto-tech startup. She is providing invaluable insight into the startup ecosystem to guide our scaling and growth efforts. She also leads our business development, fundraising, strategic planning, and commercialization efforts. She further oversees budget and compliance. For business related questions, you can reach Ms. Percher at sabrina@teenhealthresearch.com
Dr. Bianca Allison
Medical Lead
Dr. Bianca Allison MD MPH (she/her) is a board-certified primary care pediatrician and health services researcher. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and serves as a primary care physician for a diverse patient population from 0-25 years old, with a special focus on adolescents and young adults. Dr. Allison has received funding, presented, and published on patient-centered and reproductive justice-oriented methods of promoting risk reduction in adolescent sexual and reproductive health. She is services as the Medical Lead at Teen Health Research to ensure all of the products we develop are medically-accurate, developmentally appropriate, and inclusive of diverse races, genders, and sexualities.
Dr. Jeni Burnette
Consultant
Dr. Jeni Burnette is a professor in the department of Psychology at North Carolina State University. She has 20 years of experience as a mindset researcher. Dr. Burnette’s research is currently focused on understanding how to best implement growth mindset interventions and foster growth mindset cultures. She has contributed to more than 55 peer-reviewed publications and her work has been funded by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the Kauffman Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, and the Marchionne Foundation. Her work has been featured in national media outlets such as The New York Times and the Huffington Post.